Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley embarrassed ABC and CBS journalists Tuesday morning, by responding to their hysterical leading questions with reason and facts. During her two interviews today she was repeatedly badgered to attack President Trump, but wouldn’t take the bait. Instead, she made a powerful case skewering ABC for ignoring what the president has done for minorities as well as schooling CBS on how he’s handled the coronavirus pandemic.
On ABC's Good Morning America, anchor George Stephanopoulos immediately tried to “fact-check” Haley for saying that Democrats think America is a “racist” country, during last night’s Republican National Convention.
He also wanted “specifics” on what President Trump has done to fight the left-wing construct of “systemic racism:”
You spoke last night about our racial divide and criticized Democrats who you say call this a racist country. Joe Biden has not said America is racist but he and other Democrats have decried patterns of what they say is systemic racism in housing, education employment, law enforcement, the latest possible example, that shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha Wisconsin last night. Do those barriers exist and what specifically has President Trump done to address them?
Funny how Joe Biden was in office for how many decades and he doesn't get this question from journalists? Haley responded by pointing out examples of America’s accomplishments in disavowing and combating racism before Stephanopoulos asked the question again. He tried to trap her by bringing up her criticism of President Trump’s Charlottesville comments in 2017. But Haley was ready to educate Stephanopoulos and ABC viewers on all the things Trump has done for black Americans which Obama and Biden didn’t do, (click "expand"):
STEPHANOPOULOS: Right but I asked you what President Trump has done to heal that racial divide and, you know, you wrote that you were deeply disturbed by President Trump's comments after Charlottesville. Since then he's tweeted out a video of his supporters chanting white power, praised the Confederate flag which you call divisive in your speech last night so I'll ask the question again, what specifically has President Trump done to address this systemic racism and the racial divide?
HALEY: I will tell you first of all President Trump has passed criminal justice reform which Obama and Biden didn't do. We saw the lowest unemployment of African-Americans and Hispanics which wasn't under President Obama or Biden. We have seen more funding go to the historically black colleges. That never happened under Obama and Biden, so this is more about opinions of you thinking that the President hasn't done enough. I'm looking at results at what the President has done.
That last comment calling out Stephanopoulos's bias clearly ruffled his feathers as he cut in to complain, "I didn't say the President had done nothing." He moved the goalposts to claim he had really asked her if she still "stood by her previous comments" on Charlottesville.
Haley noted she wrote about this in her book so of course she stood by the comments but at the same time she’s seen how the media has unfairly presented him as a racist:
“He cared about making sure that he left his mark on improving America for when he was done and I think that we have to look at that. To just think and to have, you know, media outlets say he is just a bad person is not fair,” she argued.
After his failed attempts to get Haley to attack Trump as a racist, he ended the interview actually trying to get her to praise Kamala Harris:
“You spoke last night of your Indian-American roots and your parents and their immigrant status. On a personal level what was your reaction when Kamala Harris, another Indian-American was chosen as a vice Presidential nominee?” he posed.
Haley cleverly turned the tables on Stephanopoulos again, using this question to point out how Democrat policies don’t actually help minorities:
[I]'m not going to take away the fact that this was a huge step for her but it was also a huge step for women, a huge step for minorities, but at the end of the day, the policies of Biden and Harris don't help minorities. They don't help them improve when it comes to school choice. They don't help them improve when it comes to criminal justice reform. They don't help them improve when it comes to the economy and having more jobs in America....
CBS’s Anthony Mason also played the race card. After Haley condemned the violence in cities across America, Mason suggested police shootings made this behavior justified: “If you're a black person in this country, shouldn't you be asking why does this [police confrontations] keep happening?” he asked.
Haley responded to Mason’s hysterical question with reason and logic. She noted we needed to “find out exactly what happened in this domestic dispute, what the background is,” and investigate, instead of “demonizing” good police officers.
Mason also tried to blame Trump for coronavirus deaths. Haley again dismantled the journalist’s narrative, pointing out who’s really to blame for the virus spread, and schooling Mason on what the administration has done to combat it, (click "expand"):
MASON: Ambassador, the President continues to downplay the coronavirus saying again yesterday the virus is going to go away. The death toll is now at 177,000. We had 38,000 new cases yesterday. Do you consider the administration's response to the virus successful?
HALEY: Well, listen, there's not an American in this country that shouldn't be furious at China for covering up, lying and allowing this to get to this point. Having said that, these are unprecedented times. There is no President that could have predicted this was going to happen, but the key is how do we make today better than yesterday? Our testing is better. The fact that one of the things that will go down as one of the best things the President has done is loosening up the regulations so that pharmaceutical companies can actually help us get a vaccine. That's going to be huge. We're going to have that by December. We're going to hopefully have everybody treated and next Spring it will be a new day. But we are now trying to push through that. Are the lives that we've lost okay? No. But that's why we're also angry at China. That's why we want them held accountable. That's why we called out the World Health Organization. We have to keep doing those things that should there be, God forbid there ever be another virus, that this does not happen again.
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You can read the full interview transcripts below:
Good Morning America
8/25/20
7:13:03-7:17:16AM EST
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: You spoke last night about our racial divide and criticized Democrats who you say call this a racist country. Joe Biden has not said America is racist but he and other Democrats have decried patterns of what they say is systemic racism in housing, education employment, law enforcement, the latest possible example, that shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha Wisconsin last night. Do those barriers exist and what specifically has President Trump done to address them?
NIKKI HALEY: Well, what I've said is that America is a work in progress. You know, if you look at the fact that, you know, we were able to fight a civil war and end slavery slavery, we got through the segregation system. We had an African-American President. We have an African-American female vice Presidential candidate so we are continuing to get better. But we have to always keep improving. I know about dirty cops. I dealt with one in South Carolina when we had a white officer shoot Walter Scott in the back. But we came together. We passed the first body camera bill in the country. That's how you fix things, by coming together, by talking about it and getting to solutions. So, no, we're not a racist country. Do we have racists in our country, yes, but we are a work in progress.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Right but I asked you what President Trump has done to heal that racial divide and, you know, you wrote that you were deeply disturbed by President Trump's comments after Charlottesville. Since then he's tweeted out a video of his supporters chanting white power, praised the Confederate flag which you call divisive in your speech last night so I'll ask the question again, what specifically has President Trump done to address this systemic racism and the racial divide?
HALEY: I will tell you first of all President Trump has passed criminal justice reform which Obama and Biden didn't do. We saw the lowest unemployment of African-Americans and Hispanics which wasn't under President Obama or Biden. We have seen more funding go to the historically black colleges. That never happened under Obama and Biden, so this is more about opinions of you thinking that the President hasn't done enough. I'm looking at results at what the President has done.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I didn't say the President had done nothing. I asked you what he thought he had done and do you stand by your previous comments?
HALEY: My previous comments of that we are continuing to be a work in progress?
STEPHANOPOULOS: Responding to what the President said in Charlottesville when you said you were deeply disturbed.
HALEY: Oh, of course. I wrote that in the book. I mean, there have been times where, you know, the President and I don't agree on necessarily on the style, but -- and he's not the most politically correct person. Everybody knows that but whenever I saw something, I would talk to him about it and he would always listen and he would always work towards improving and I think that's what we have to understand is at the end of the day the man that I knew in the White House was someone who genuinely cared about the American people. He cared about the status of all people. He cared about making sure that he left his mark on improving America for when he was done and I think that we have to look at that. To just think and to have, you know, media outlets say he is just a bad person is not fair.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You spoke last night of your Indian-American roots and your parents and their immigrant status. On a personal level what was your reaction when Kamala Harris, another Indian-American was chosen as a vice Presidential nominee?
HALEY: Look, any time we see someone do something that hasn't done it before, it's a proud moment. You know, you want to see Americans in general improve. So to see that now we've gotten past the barrier of an African-American or a minority female as vice President, that's great. But the issues are that we disagree terribly on policy. But I'm not going to take away the fact that this was a huge step for her but it was also a huge step for women. A huge step for minorities, but at the end of the day, the policies of Biden and Harris don't help minorities. They don't help them improve when it comes to school choice. They don't help them improve when it comes to criminal justice reform. They don't help them improve when it comes to the economy and having more jobs in America, and so that's really what this is going to talk about is yes it’s great when we cross the barrier, it’s even better when he get good policies in place where everyone is advantaged.
CBS This Morning
8/25/20
7:12:25-7:16:45 AM EST
ANTHONY MASON: President Trump's former U.N. Ambassador, Nikki Haley, joins us now from Washington. Good morning, ambassador. What did the Republican -- what does the Republican party need to do this week, do you think? And did they start it last night?
NIKKI HALEY: Good morning. Well, I think they absolutely started it last night. I mean talking about how the country is a work in progress and we have to continue to build on that progress. You know, whether it is trying to overcome COVID whether it's trying to fight off China and Iran, whether it's trying to continue to build our economy back up to where President Trump had it before COVID hit, you know, all of those things, education choices and going further. I mean those are all things that we need to continue to do and I think the Republican party needs to continue to talk about policies and substance and where we're going from here.
MASON: As Ben Tracy reported, the Republican party said going in that this was going to be an optimistic convention, but a lot of people saw a very dark picture painted last night about the Democrats, there were going to be vengeful mobs storming the suburbs. That doesn't sound very optimistic.
HALEY: Well, I think it's because they turn on the TV and that's what they see. They look at the protests, they look at the riots, they look at the rage. They see what's happening in Portland, they see what's happening in Wisconsin, they see those things. I can tell you from South Carolina, we had -- we know what it's like to have a dirty cop. We dealt with one. When one shot Walter Scott in the back multiple times when he was unarmed. But we came together. We talked about it. We passed the first body camera bill in the country. We didn't have the riots and the rage. And that's what this is all about. Lawlessness will not make progress. Lawlessness does nothing but create more lawlessness. That's where the Republican party is trying to take it. There is a better way and we have to go that way as opposed to going towards violence and rage.
MASON: But we have yet another shooting, as you said, in Wisconsin. You're seeing overnight reactions to that. If you're a black person in this country, shouldn't you be asking why does this keep happening?
HALEY: Absolutely we should ask questions, but that's just it. We've got to find out exactly what happened in this domestic dispute, what the background is. But it never -- it's always a good thing to talk about what is happening, what the fears are, what the concerns are, and how we're going to take us to the next level. I can tell you in South Carolina, one of the things that we found is you can't move a dirty cop from one area to another area because the dirty cop’s going to do the same thing. You have to have -- the reason we passed body cameras is you have to have accountability for good cops and for bad cops. But the one thing you don't do is you don’t demonize all police officers in the process. We've got a lot of good police officers. When we created that body camera bill, we did it with law enforcement. We did it with Walter Scott's family. We did it by talking about what we needed to do to improve, not by demonizing the good guys. You go by holding the bad guys accountable. That's what needs to be happening.
MASON: Ambassador, the President continues to downplay the coronavirus saying again yesterday the virus is going to go away. The death toll is now at 177,000. We had 38,000 new cases yesterday. Do you consider the administration's response to the virus successful?
HALEY: Well, listen, there's not an American in this country that shouldn't be furious at China for covering up, lying and allowing this to get to this point. Having said that, these are unprecedented times. There is no President that could have predicted this was going to happen, but the key is how do we make today better than yesterday? Our testing is better. The fact that one of the things that will go down as one of the best things the President has done is loosening up the regulations so that pharmaceutical companies can actually help us get a vaccine. That's going to be huge. We're going to have that by December. We're going to hopefully have everybody treated and next Spring it will be a new day. But we are now trying to push through that. Are the lives that we've lost okay? No. But that's why we're also angry at China. That's why we want them held accountable. That's why we called out the World Health Organization. We have to keep doing those things that should there be, God forbid there ever be another virus, that this does not happen again.
